DRO help. Strange situation..

Confusedagain2015

Hi all
I have registered a new account as I help out on a voluntary basis at a women's charity and the question is relating to one of our service users. I didn't want my usual account to be identified nor do I want to put the service user in any danger

Anyway. Basically I have attended several apps with miss x. 2 to the CAB and over their phone with a charity called step change.
Not too sure how much info you need so I will give as much as I can whilst trying to not make the post lengthy.

She is in debt totalling £14000 and has 3 children. She works full time. She has recently moved in with her (long time ago) ex partner - he owns his home and bought it 4 years ago When they were not together and she has no stake in the property.
They have been an item again around 18 months but have known each other many years.

She moved in on the back of an offer to help her sort her debt out coupled with her landlord selling up and being served notice. This man is the father to her youngest child.

She asked me to attend the cab apps with her for moral support.
The first appointment she took all her debt info income/expenditure etc They recommended a DRO but she needed info on some things so we made another appointment
When we returned we saw another advisor who stated she wouldn't be eligible for a DRO due to living with partner who owns own home.

We called step change to get another opinion. They said there was NO issue with him owning the house as she had no beneficial interest in it and she had been there less than 2 years

Who is correct? Can or step change

The eldest kids she pays for everything for and the partner (who's not their father) does buy them treats and stuff but day to day expense are her responsibility and the biological fathers
The step change advisor seemed very laid back when she was answering the questions
For example -when answering the questions about expenditure my service user said she would be paying a sum of £500 pcm to the partner for utilities and board but would be doing her own shopping so step change said she could claim for 1 adult and 3 children. The reason for this is the boyfriend works 7-7 so they would never eat together and she would be at work at weekends

The partner never paid maintenance for the youngest as they had 50/50 care but surely she can't claim for 1 adult and 3 children if the boyfriend provided some food for the youngest anyway?

Also, the haircuts, bus fares eat should she claim for 2.5 children (they go halves on anything the youngest needs) or should she put the amount for all 3?

Also, they are a couple but she's only moved in to get a handle on her debt! They both will and do have totally separate accounts and the likes and all the bills are obviously in the boyfriends name.

Basically, I just want to check what people she can claim for in what? When it says "couple" on the guidelines is that the guidelines if both are entering into a DRO or not?

The boyfriend has been made to sound like he doesn't contribute and he doesn't but the fact is he's only asked her to move in so soon after reconciling as he doesn't want to see her struggle and she is the mother of his child.

Step change said she tells them the info based on what is happening in real life but it just seems odd she can say she is paying board to a partner but all kid related expenses are hers?
Sorry for the long post but as you can see its confused us both no end

Confusedagain2015

Also things like say school trips (plucked one out of thin air) she budgets £21 among for the children's swimming lessons which actually cost £43 and the partner gives her the difference
But if the guidelines have a maximum amount would she only be able to claim half of that specific expense because she lives with a partner?

mwarby

As i understand it the amounts are guidelines, not set in stone. Amounts under the guidelines generally go unchallanged, amounts over get looked at more closely.

If more is spent in an area than guidelines suggest be prepared to justify it, also ensure that it doesn't fit under other categories

Its not a good idea to try and claim top end for all categories(unless genuine), as this can look like gaming the system

For the women in question, maybe worth highlighting to the IP\authorities if putting their name and address on the insolvency register puts them at risk(it can be surpressed if court agrees).

wba31

Firstly on Beneficial Interest in the property, from what you have described it appears that the debtor has none so I would go with the organisation that have deemed that to be true.

The budget needs to be based on the situation, so if she pays board and covers the children's cost then thats the case.

The figures that you are putting down are not set in stone also, so a) they can be amended or b) the money can be used in other areas, some weeks the shopping will be higher or lower, may use more fuel in the car or bus fares some months. The idea of the budget is to give a basic idea of the situation, not to be a rigid form to live by. Let the advisors you are dealing with do their job and sort the budget out, I think you only need to be concerned if they do not offer the debt solution that you think she is eligible for, and then they will explain why. And as you've seen, different advisors interpret things differently, and some advisors on these boards always recommend people speaking to a range of free debt advice providers to ensure all angles are covered.

Confusedagain2015

Thank you both for your advice
My concern was that she would only be able to put half of child costs as the DRO unit would expect her partner to be going halves on this
Also, no one has asked for his income - is that correct?
For all intents and purposes step change put her as paying board and covering her own children's expenses on her own

Whilst this is true they do have 1 child together that they split expenses for but the partner pays a lot more than she does given current situation
I'm a little fearful of her paying the £90 and getting refused

wba31

As a rule of thumb the DRO Unit will not pay any attention to the budget and budget make up. The role of the intermediary is to do all that donkey work and to be happy with it themselves, then they submit the final application. the Insolvency Service trust the intermediaries on items such as budget figures, if they started challenging things they'd soon face a backlash from advisors that generally know better! the responsibility ultimately falls on the intermediary to ensure the budget is accurate, but fair to all parties